Falcon Comeback Falls Short as Lakers Win 8-4

JAY–Tired legs.
That is what one member of the North Country boys hockey team's coaching staff said in between the first and the second period; tired legs.
And who could blame him. Having played in Barre on Wednesday night against Spaulding in a game that started at 8:00, and getting home well past midnight, you can understand how the Falcons might not be as rested as they would have liked to have been when they fell to Colchester 8-4 in the second game of the double-header on Friday.
For some strange, and I am sure Ice Haus schedule based reason, instead of Wednesday-Saturday games, the boys played a Wednesday-Friday schedule last week, and will have to do it again this week, but at least they do not have to go on the road on Wednesday.
Call it however you will, North Country got down 3-0 in the first period, and was never fully able to recuperate against the Lakers.
They opened the game with an excellent shift by Nate Stewart, Ross DeLaBruere, and Ryan Paul. The trio got the puck in deep, got a couple of shots, kept their shift short, and got off the ice, hoping to motivate the next line to keep up the pace.
No dice.
Logan Fournier took a penalty and that call completely changed the tone of the contest.
It was as if Colchester was given a do-over start to the game. Although they did not score on this power-play, they would score soon after on another one as Matt Porter walked out from behind the net and beat Chris Bronson 4:06 into the first period to get the scoring started.
Twenty-three seconds later Nick Kranz was left wide open in front of Bronson and he had no trouble making it 2-0.
Nate Frieberg got his first of two on a breakaway with 8:03 left in the first and as the buzzer sounded it was 3-0 Lakers after one.
The next goal, I thought, would be a huge one, and for a time it was.
The Stewart line again had a strong start and almost scored, but Paul was unable to convert a point blank chance.
While Ryan did not score, Adam Viens would on the next shift, tipping a bouncing puck past Josh Place, giving some life to the fans in attendance.
It would be Viens again scoring for North Country, this time going down on one knee to bury a Logan Fortier rebound to bring the Lakers' lead down to one.
Colchester restored the two goal advantage on a beautiful one-timer by Porter, as he took Frieberg’s feed and slapped an ice level shot past Bronson.
But the ever resilient Falcons took advantage of a man advantage when Stewart tipped home a Paul shot to make it 4-3 after two.
Dylan Columbia tied the game 2:27 seconds into the third on another nice tip play as he redirected Ebin Fournier's shot past Place. Josh Bernier also picked up an assist on the goal.
All right, 4-4, new game, fresh start and... Colchester scores twenty-eight seconds later to wipe the smiles off of the Falcons faces.
They would add three more goals, chase Bronson from the nets and some fans from the building, winning the high scoring affair by four goals.
Place stopped 24 shots for the Lakers and Bronson and Chase LaCourse teamed up for 31 for NCU.
The loss ends the 5-9 Falcons win streak at three, but they will get a chance to get back on the horse at home on Wednesday when they host Middlebury at 6:00 in Jay.